Can you feeeeel that enthusiasm?? Woohoo!!

TOLKIEN SCHOLARS AND HOBBIT FANS CONVERGE Tolkien scholars and hobbit fans will gather at two conferences at The University of St. Thomas over April 27-29, 2001. [More]

Thanks to Robert for the tip!

At ifilm.com there is an article about the official Lord of the Rings movie site. They rated it a 'must see' web site. [More]

Green Books has a lot of new stuff for March.

• Did you think Frodo was the main character of the trilogy? WRONG! Go Out on a Limb with me as I explain "It's All About Sam."
  
• We reveal fifteen great new Questions & Answers:
  
  1. What's the back-history of Glamdring?
     
  2. Were there vampires in Middle-earth?
     
  3. Is Legolas really a blond?
     
  4. Was the Necromancer really Sauron?
     
  5. What happened to the Nazgūl's rings?
     
  6. Were the Falls of Rauros evil?
     

  All these and more can be found here.

• Tookish has a boat-load of new humor in his Ticklers section. You'll find comics, parodies, links to humor sites, funny jokes, and desperate-to-be-funny jokes!
  
• Our new Special Guest writes "In Arwen's Defense." For all you red-eyed fans who think Arwen's role should be reduced in the films, read this!
  
• Look for new updates in red to previous Q & A articles.
  

Next month we will have plenty more with Turgon, Ostadan, and the long-delayed debut of the online novel, "Isildur." Join us as we explore the WORDS and WORLD of Tolkien.

Much too hasty,

Quickbeam

Fingolfin wrote to say:

"It is my pleasure to announce the opening of Middle Earth Trader, the "one-stop" site for the Tolkien Collector Enthusiast.

Middle Earth Trader is a Tolkien-related collectible directory that allows sellers to post classified ads or links to auctions within our directory while giving buyers a starting point to search for items to finish that special collection. We also give registered site sponsors a banner placement and the ability to post news articles about new collectibles as they come out." [More]

The folks from 'SFX Magazine' have a word of warning for folks who have not read LOTR and are waiting for the movies; 'Read the books First!'

Thanks to Nathan for the tip!

Nona from The Compleat Sean Bean sends in this article from the April issue of 'Empire Magazine'.

"The reason I write you is that I was at the location when they filmed LotR. My character was a fighting human at the battlefield. I was just down there for about 5 days, but it was the greatest time of my life." (More)

"Just had a copy of an article one of our bods was interviewed for come through. It's Stern Magazine (Nr 9) 22.2.2001, pp 204-209. Full page pix of the orcs from the April 00 teaser, Aragorn fighting orcs by the ruin, that one of Arwen with the sword, Gandalf at the Council of Elrond, the hobbits, JRRT & PJ."

Sounds pretty good! Thanks to Ian for that alert.

There may be an online version here but the link wasn't working when I tried.

I can't believe no one has reported this yet, but yesterday the BBC showed the trailer for 'Harry Potter', but placed some scenes from the Lord of the Rings teaser in the report, saying

"..Harry Potter will face strong competition from another film adaptation of a Children's classic featuring wizards: The Lord of the Rings"

(cue scene from the teaser, The One Ring enlarging to show armies of Mordor, all the way to Liv Tyler sleeping on the bench in her funky red frock).

I hate the media for trying to make it look like a competition between the two films. That said, my sister, who has never had much interest in Tolkien was rather psyched to start reading LOTR after seeing those teaser shots...

Still, I really could care less about the whole competition dealie.

Same here Sean, same here...

Lee will be there promoting his new book 'Christopher Lee - The Authorised Biography'. [More]

News is also coming to me that the one sheet will be available on the official site in 1 hour of this post!

More info soon.

Here it is! The poster we will be looking at for months to come! Click on the image to enlarge in our scrapbook.

Twentieth Century Fox may have decided to delay the release of Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman, to June, because, according to MSNBC.com's Jeannette Walls, "she didn't want to face a publicity tour so soon after her messy split from Tom Cruise." [More]

"The UK's Total Film magazine has a "2001 Films" section, with a four-page spread of LOTR, and a little interview with Cate Blanchett. Images and interview aren't new -the large images are Gandalf at Moria, and the shot of Arwen which was in Entertainment Weekly, I believe."

Thanks for that!

I just posted a story about the Rudy Foundation Celebrity dinner from February 11th. Jessica Peace had a chance to attend the event and met Sean Astin (Sam), and she was kind enough to let me post her story and her pics at my site. LOTR is mentioned and there's a bit more about it in the Q&A with Jessica. There's also a pic of Sean with Ali Astin. I though you guys might find this stuff interesting. [More]

The American Film Market, the "gathering for the global motion picture industry," held annually in Los Angeles, will be the premiere ground for Ancanar's first theatrical trailer. [More]

Here is an article from the Sun Herald this morning. It is titled "Lord of the Ringing Tills". [More]

Today, February 28th is Mark Ferguson (Gil Galad) Birthday! Mark was born on 28 February 1961 in Sydney, Australia. That makes him 40 today! Happy Birthday Mark!